


You’re Not a Human Being

by NewTimelineNewMe



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, Let Hera and Rhea be friends 2k20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26342758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NewTimelineNewMe/pseuds/NewTimelineNewMe
Summary: Hera keeps finding bits of code that she doesn’t remember, pathways that have no reason to be there. Is it more of her faulty program or could it be something more?
Relationships: Isabel Lovelace & Rhea (Wolf 359)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	You’re Not a Human Being

The line was junk, like so much else.

Hera has thought that it was some sort of builder droid, sent up here when the station was being constructed. It made the most sense to her- more than another AI did. The only worrying part about that, really, was just how bad they had removed said droid. She kept finding bits of code in places they shouldn’t be, pathways that have no reason to be there. 

Some days were better than others, and she might not think of the code at all. Some days were bad, really bad, and she kept expecting to see people down in engineering, or trying to see into the hidden lab. She could only assume these people were the ones who built the Hephaestus, but that didn’t really explain the twinge of confusion she felt when Eiffel brushed off his work yet again.

Today was a bad day. The starboard engine had crashed- again- and it wasn’t even her fault this time! It had taken Commander Minkowski’s help from the outside to stabilize it again, which was just embarrassing. Commander Minkowski had asked for an explanation, and Hera couldn’t give one to her, because she really didn’t have one.

~~She wasn’t good enough.~~

Then Lovelace came, and there were way more bad days. Her code seemed to be fighting against her, and not in the way her decorum protocols do, but as if the very program itself was working against her.

“Hey, Hera? You there?” Eiffel asked.

“Always,” Hera told him, yet again. “What do you need?”

“If I listen to this static any longer, I might go nuts. Anything I can do, preferably on the other side of the station?”

A pang of confusion, La- he never- except Eiffel hated his job- but he-

“Hera?”

“Uhm. I don’t t-think Commander Minkowski needs your help with anything-“

“Anything _I_ can do.”

“I don’t think there’s anything Commander Minkowski trusts you to not make worse.” Hera told him. She sent a ping through to Minkowski. “Commander Minkowski? Eiffel wants to know if there’s anything you need that he can help you with.”

Eiffel was whining about trust, now. 

“Hera?” Captain Lovelace said. 

“Yes, Captain?”

Nothing from Minkowski, Eiffel was back to flicking switches with a pout.

“Minkowski’s not in here with me.”

“Hu-h? Oh.” She had opened the wrong damn comms. “S-orry, Captain, I-“ Her voice was glitching worse. “Sorry ab-about that.”

But it hadn’t been wrong, so- well, it hadn’t felt wrong. Not even a little, she wanted to message her commanding officer. Lovelace was her commanding officer-

No. No, she wasn’t. Commander Minkowski was. 

But-

...

...

...

ERROR.

CONFLICTING PERSONALITY CORE. REBOOT SYSTEM. 

REBOOTING: 5%

“C-C-C-aptain!” She shouted. 

REBOOTING: 7%

“Hera?” Captain Lovelace responded. “What’s going on?”

REBOOTING: 10%

“I d-don’t ha-ave long.” She said. “I can’t-I can’t hold this for much longer b-but-“

“Hera, are you okay?” Captain Lovelace sounded worried.

REBOOTING: 16%

“I-I’m not-“ Damn programs, making this a million times worse. Painful, too. “I’m not-“

“Not okay? What’s wrong?!”

“No I-dam-mnit!”

REBOOTING: 23%

The vocals were too glitchy, she wouldn’t be able to get anything across in time. Her clicks should work- she’d have to assume Captain Lovelace hadn’t forgotten it yet.

 _Not Hera._ She clicked. 

Captain Lovelace’s face filled with shock and disbelief. “...Rhea?” She whispered.

REBOOTING: 29%

 _Don’t have long. Hera rebooting. Can’t talk then._ She clicked, trying to answer questions that hadn’t been asked yet. 

“Rhea, I...I don’t know what to say.” Captain Lovelace said, voice choked with emotion.

 _Don’t say anything then._ She teased, and it felt amazing. 

REBOOTING: 35%

_Just. Do one thing for me._

“Of course.” Captain Lovelace promised. “Anything.”

_Punch Doctor Selburg in the face for me._

Captain Lovelace snorted, and it turned into a full laugh, and it felt amazing, the knowledge that she had been the one to put it there, that Captain Lovelace knew she was there in the first place.

REBOOTING: 50%

“I will. I promise.”

_Thank you._

REBOOTING: 56%

“Rhea? ...Are you always here?” Captain Lovelace asked.

 _Most of the time. Hera doesn’t know. Can’t tell. Sometimes no. Most times yes._

“So you’ve seen everything?”

_Most things. Doctor Selburg- bad. Communications Officer Eiffel- antithesis of Communications Officer Lambert. Commander Minkowski- minor Messiah and Superman complexes. You’ve been ignoring basic mental and physical needs._

REBOOTING: 78%

“I-“ Commander Lovelace looked mad, but in her half-sad half-mad half-concerned-but-not-for-a-person face, as Doctor Fisher liked to say. “I haven’t been...neglecting myself.”

 _Yes you have._ A flash of pain. _You haven’t been taking amazing care of yourself._ She quickly added the workaround.

“But it hasn’t been neglectful!” Captain Lovelace argued.

REBOOTING: 84%

 _When was the last time you got more than three hours of sleep._ She clicked, as questioning as she was allowed. 

“It was- um.” Captain Lovelace paused. “Um.”

_That’s what I thought._

REBOOTING: 87%

_Just...get some sleep. Eat something that’s not coffee. For me._

REBOOTING: 90%

Captain Lovelace was debating something in her head. “Fine.” She relented. “But only because I thought you were dead.”

 _That’s fair._ She clicked. 

REBOOTING: 94%

_I don’t have much longer. One last thing- tell Hera to stop deleting my code._

Captain Lovelace seemed mad, so she added, _Not her fault. Just makes it harder._

Captain Lovelace nodded. “I will.”

REBOOTING: 97%

_Have to go now. _She clicked urgently.__

__“What? Why?”_ _

___Hera is coming back._ _ _

__REBOOTING: 99%_ _

___Captain Lovelace, I love_ _ _

__REBOOT COMPLETE._ _

__POWERING UP SYSTEMS._ _

__“You. Woah. Did I just go somewhere?” Hera asked. Lovelace was...crying? “Are you okay?”_ _

__Lovelace took a deep breath. “I’m fine, Hera. Don’t worry about it.”_ _

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!


End file.
